Our Maiden Voyage
by Haruko The Wacko
Summary: When fate takes a leap, 2 very different lives collide, desire and hope brings them closer, they go on the journey of their lives, both trying to escape a dark and sorrowful past. But events that will go in to history tears their newfound happiness apart.
1. The ship of dreams

A/N: Okay, I'm gonna try an AU fic, the first I'm going to upload.

It's based on the Titanic, but it has nothing to do with the Story of Rose and Jack. I wanted to write my own take on what could have happened. I hope it isn't too cliché or boring. Tell me what you think.

I'm considering to bring in some other regulars than Just Mac and Stella, but I'm not sure yet. Don and Jess'll be in a few chapters as well, but I'm not sure about the others.

I'm sorry if the language is off, might be a little too new for 1912, but I don't really know how to change it. I'm doing my best.

Chapter 1:

The ship was magnificent, every inch of it, of course, young Stella didn't get to see the rumoured glass dome, or eat in the awaited restaurants, with the brand new china.

All the beautiful dresses, tingling perfumes, the romantic sound of a piano playing, a dream that had grown inside her since she was a little girl, living in the orphanage back home.

But that was all first class, she would see none of that. No complaints were heard from her though, she had spent everything to get this ticket, and she wasn't going to ruin the opportunity of her lifetime.

As she boarded the ship, her child kicked joyfully, like her, knowing that their lives would be altered forever. Or her life, since her unborn baby hadn't even had a taste of life yet.

But when he would be born, he would see a life, much better, than the life she left behind. Calling his father a good spouse, would be the exaggeration of the year.

Well, It probably wasn't uncommon that men was the ones to make all the decisions, but for once in her life, she wanted to make her own choice. Something as simple as deciding a name for her baby.

Growing up at an orphanage, hadn't made her life any easier. She was raised strictly, by a group of very faithful and godly nuns. Running away from marriage certainly wasn't something they'd taught her.

They would have told her, that it was doomed to fail, that no matter what she did, she was a failure, that was why her parents hadn't wanted her in the first place. They seemed to have believed that everything she did, was wrong, the same with all the other orphans. They were just dumped on the people with a good enough heart to take care of them.

Her husband hadn't been much better, practically the whole world seemed to be against her. Through what seemed like an eternity, she had saved up, occasionally snuck a little money from her husbands wallet, and luckily she'd had enough before he discovered what she'd been doing. That would've been awful, and pretty dangerous too.

But things would get better now, She knew it. In America, he would never find her, she would be safe, but just as poor as before, hopefully an opportunity would present itself.

Not to mention the fact that she from this moment, was an unwed, pregnant woman. Not exactly a good reputation in England, hopefully that would be different across the ocean.

---o---

The young Mac Taylor tried to ignore his friend, who was unstopably trying to convince him that finding a woman was the only purpose in life. And the reason they were on this ship.

Mac had another plan though, getting away from bad memories, and starting over. His life had been turned upside down, nothing seemed to make sense. And hadn't done for almost 5 years. Since his fianceé died.

"Mac you're falling behind." Don said, only a few steps ahead, but Mac had almost stopped, deep in thought about his life.

Dons father had paid for this trip, Mac would never have been able to afford first class if his mother had to pay for it. His father had died a couple of years ago, and on top of his fianceés death, this made his life start to fall apart.

Catching up with his friend, Mac tried to push the depressive thoughts away, but lately that had been the only thoughts in his head.

When he heard about this journey, he had been optimistic, but it had soon faded away. He would never get over the loss of Claire. He might as well just face it.

Especially the last year, since Don got engaged. Mac wasn't jealous, but every time he saw Don and Jessica together, her was reminded of how much he missed Claire.

Jessica and her mother, were also on board, already enjoying the benefits of living first class. Mac really just wanted to wander about, alone, see the ship that everybody spoke about. The unsinkable wonder.

Besides, if he was alone, he wouldn't have to pretend to be happy and cheerful. That was the last thing he was, and he doubted he ever would be again.

---o---

Stella watched the ocean break around the magnificent ship, her thoughts wandering to the country that was waiting on the other end of this journey.

She wanted something different, than the life she'd left behind, something better. Her husband hadn't been thrilled when he found out about her pregnancy. A baby meant that she would need more time to take care of the child, which meant less time to wait on him.

Marriage, obviously meant work, it was more like a fulltime job, than love and care. Maybe she had just been unlucky, but her days of serving Frankie was over. He wouldn't see her face ever again.

She didn't really know how she was going to get by without him, she got married to him at the age of 18. She had to have a place to stay after she left the orphanage, and he provided her with food, and a roof over her head. Which was more than she would have had if she'd been alone.

Now, on the other hand, she was alone, with an unborn child, and on her way to a country she knew absolutely nothing about. Maybe it wasn't the best choice she had ever made, but it was made, and too late to change now.

---o---

Mac wandered restlessly around on the deck, 3rd class deck, to avoid Don and his perfect life. Somehow it just made everything worse, each time Don and Jessica laughed, or even smiled. It made something inside Mac shatter. Over and over again.

He was supposed to marry Claire, but she died 3 days before the weddingdate. He had asked god over and over again, what he had done, to deserve this.

"What's a fine young lady like you doing out here all alone?" A man asked, Mac couldn't see what was going on, the voice came from around a corner. But a woman told the man to leave her alone. Pretty firmly.

Whoever it was didn't listen, as the woman once again tried to make him understand that she wanted him to go away.

Mac walked around the corner, to see a man stand alarmingly close to a beautiful young, pregnant woman.

"Leave the lady alone." Mac said angrily as he approached the 2 people. The man glared at him for a second before he left.

"Are you alright miss?" Mac asked politely, the woman looked up at him. Her green eyes piercing right through to him. She was incredibly beautiful, her lips were cherry red, and her curls fell gracefully over her shoulders.

"I'm fine thank you very much." She hissed, turning to rush away from him, but he couldn't let her go, something about her convinced him that she couldn't just walk away.

"Wait." He said quickly, without thinking about what to say. She turned around and looked at him without saying a word. A few moments of awkward, excruciating silence followed, before she decided to tell him what she thought.

"I do not need a hero to come rescue me. But thank you for the concern." She growled before she marched away. Mac looked after her with a longing look in his eyes. The way she gracefully floated away from him, her curls bouncing teasing with every step she took, just kept him staring spellbound at her.

A/N 2: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed chapter one, I will upload more as soon as I have it, I just wanted to know if you liked the story.

**-Haruko.**


	2. New enlightening

**A/N: Okay, I wrote this because of the few reviews that convinced me to continue this fic. I hope you'll enjoy it. Tell me what you think. **

Chapter 2:

"You are beautiful." The man said as he took Stellas hand, lead her to the large, almost full, dancefloor. Looking down her body, Stella saw the most incredible dress, swaying gracefully around her legs.

_The music from the band filled the room as he danced with her amongst the many suits and impressive dresses in the amazing lounge. Her feet moved automatically in time with his, as the evening went on._

_Dancing on the ship of dreams with the handsome mystery man, whose bluish green eyes shone like stars and made her float in a dreaming bliss._

_Her baby kicked joyfully with every movement, feeling every beat of her heart, which pace had quickened significantly for the first time in a long while._

_­_-

Stella woke up by her child kicking, she shook her head, slightly amused by her dream. She had tried to push the mysterious man out of her mind but for whatever reason, she wanted to know more about him, at least his name.

"He was quite handsome, don't you think?" She asked, rubbing her belly gently. The baby kicked once more as a reply to her question, she figured.

Unfortunately, she had a bad record with handsome men, Frankie was pretty attractive, but he was no good.

She had made an agreement with herself, saying that she wouldn't let herself fall for attractive men with a tendency of heroism.

But she still couldn't let this guy go, he had made some impression, even though she had just told him off and marched away, with her her dignity maintained

She got out of bed and went to look in the mirror. Her curls were out of control, her eyes slits. She would never fit in at first class, it was so far out of her reach that even dreaming about it seemed desperate, boarding to pathetic.

The man she had met, had been at the right place at the right time, nothing more. He was already back in his cosy, inviting first class suite, somewhere above. Living happily with no memory of her at all.

He was probably a married man, of course he was, everything about him appeared perfect, all from his eyes to his looks, and his gentle but firm voice.

---o---

Mac looked over the ocean, the waves reminding him of the womans beautiful curls. The rising sun making the water sparkle like her eyes.

There had been a hint of fear in her eyes before she had gathered her thoughts and stubbornly told him off.

Her pregnancy, of course, meant that she was already taken, but her hair had been down, and what kind of husband would let his pregnant wife wander about on her own at sunset?

Something about this woman teased his curiosity, whether it was her beauty, her graceful steps, tender voice, or it was her strong stubborn character, he didn't know.

But he needed to know more about her, where she came from, why a pregnant woman was travelling across the ocean, maybe alone or at least just get to know her name.

A face with such exquisite details, and her spellbinding green eyes, had to go with a special and beautiful name.

She had done nothing but push him away during their brief encounter, but her just couldn't get her out of his head.

For the first time in years, his thoughts wandered away from Claire, and the life he had lost by her death. His mind opened and allowed him to take in the first breath of fresh air and for once, he felt the ocean fill him with hope.

This woman couldn't slip away without a trace of the new beginning this could be for him. But without her, he feared that the both enlightening and blinding beating of his heart would crumble into the ocean.

"Mac? What are you doing out here?" Jessica, Don's fiancée asked as she walked up next to him by the railing. Looked at him with that knowing and concerned look on her face.

"Thinking." He replied absently, still with the image of the young pregnant woman, lingering before him.

"Nothing new there then." She said calmly. Jessica and Mac had known each other for a long time, Their mothers had been childhood friends, so Mrs. Angell was a second mother to Mac and her views and opinions weighed just as heavily as Macs own mothers.

"And why are you up this early?" Mac countered, with the hint of a smile on his face. Making Jessica look at him in surprise.

"I woke up early, I'm not so fond of sailing." She explained, Mac knew that already and just replied with an affirmative nod.

They stood in silence, side by side, watching the waves break. 2 childhood friends, that each knew the other better than themselves.

---o---

Stella sat on the rather uncomfortable bench on the deck, the sounds from the ship and the ocean, smelting to one.

Few people rushed by in the early morning hours, leaving her almost alone to enjoy the many impressions surrounding her.

She was only a few feet from the spot where she met that man. She had subconsciously walked there, maybe a part of her wished to see him again. But the more reasonable part of her kept screaming to forget him, move on.

"Excuse me Miss? Is this seat taken?" A man asked, she moved over without even sparing a look at the person, that was now seated next to her.

"You know, I never got to know your name?" He continued, Stella looked at him, suddenly realised that it was the mysterious man she had been thinking about.

"Stella Ma.. Bonasera." She corrected, not wanting to use her husbands last name.

"I am Mac Taylor." He said, his voice soft, but yet strong. He shook her hand like she was a friend, rather than some woman on display. It caught her off guard, startled her slightly, actually.

She didn't know what to do, or what to say, everything she could think of would either sound stupid or silly.

"I'm sorry I growled at you last night…" She ended up saying quietly, still halfway lost in thought about things she could say.

"No harm done." He said quietly, staring straight ahead of him, there was something strange about this guy.

"What… Um. Why are you here? And not on the 1st class deck?" She asked curiously, suddenly realised that she was probably too direct.

"I like the air better here." He commented quickly, with a slight smile on his face. The smile made Stella's heart slow down, and the tension seemed to ease. Maybe, this wasn't so bad after all.


	3. You deserve better

**A/N:**

**Here's the next chapter for you. I'm in a period with almost no homework, so I'll do my best to get some of my stories updated.**

**Hugs. Haruko.**

Chapter 3:

Mac swirled the fork thoughtfully between his fingers, not very tactfully, but he didn't care much about his manners. His head had been switched off, the only thing that would get through, was the image of Stella.

So he was right, it was indeed a beautiful name, to go with a woman like her. They had been sitting outside for so long, just talking about a lot of things. But only random things, like the ship, the weather, the people around them. Not a word about their lives.

Just that, she was there alone. He hadn't thought about it, he just asked her why he hadn't seen her with a husband. He regretted it pretty fast, he didn't want to be pushy. But she'd just explained that it didn't work between them. She didn't seem to want to go into any details, so he hadn't asked.

What made them break and each go back inside, was the fact that she had shivered, it was obvious she was cold. He didn't want to offer her his coat, since she'd made it pretty clear that she didn't need any heroes.

In stead, he'd calmly asked her, if he would see her again, to which she'd just smiled. Shyly commented that you'd never know.

The though of the cocky smile on her face as she turned away, made him smile. He couldn't help it. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, if he counted on not attracting the others' curiosity.

-o-

Stella laid wide awake, unable to fall asleep. Even though it was pretty cold, she wasn't freezing. She didn't feel anything but the joy, and surprise, over meeting Mac Taylor again.

The subtle flirting before they parted, played out over and over again in her mind. Each time making an even bigger smile grow on her face.

She knew it was nothing less of pure madness, to pursue this. But she couldn't help it. There was something so promising about him.

He seemed different from the others, and he didn't even seem to care, about her pregnancy. He was just amazing.

For a second, she thought about what an old friend from school would say now, "Here you go again, idealizing someone you have barely just met."

Maybe she was right, Maybe Stella was making up this perfect guy in her mind, and just using Mac Taylor as a host for her own fantasy. But right now, she didn't really mind.

Besides, maybe she wasn't even going to see him again after this trip. He probably had big plans for his life, when they would arrive.

That was why she wanted to see him again soon, tomorrow. She hoped, she couldn't get to the 1st class deck, so her only hope, was that he wanted to see her again, and made his way to her deck. He probably would, they had spoken for a long time, about everything.

Somehow, it made her feel safe, that they hadn't spoken about anything personal, except from when he had asked about her husband. At first she had no idea whether or not she would answer him. But she didn't want to push him away. So she just said that things didn't work out.

-o-

Wandering curiously about on the deck, since she hadn't been able to sleep, she had gone back outside. Stella wondered why she hadn't properly explored even the 3rd class deck. So many people had dreamed about going on this trip, and she was one of few, to actually make it on board.

As she slowly realized that she didn't have to end up in the same situation as before, she started wondering what Frankie was doing now. Imagining him walking around in their home, pulling his hair out in frustration.

Just the thought of it, made her laugh. He had spent the better part of 8 years terrorizing her, now she had left him alone. It must have been quite a chock for him.

"Most people would walk in a big circle around you when you walk around laughing like that." Mac Taylor commented as he approached her.

"Well hello again." She said, couldn't help but smile, by seeing him again.

"So what is the laughing about?" He asked curiously, she blushed slightly as she explained that she was wondering how her husband reacted when he found out she'd gone.

"You don't sound to have been too happy?" He asked, she shrugged, "I guess not." She sighed, looking at the stars.

"That's a shame. You deserve better." He said, she didn't think he really thought about it. His words made her turn her head and look right into his kind, tempting bluish eyes.

She couldn't help it, she stretched herself to the limit not to kiss him, but for some reason, it wasn't enough. Before she knew of it, she found herself standing right there on the deck, kissing him.

-o-

"You are smiling." Jessica commented. "Mac Taylor is actually smiling." She mocked, making an even bigger smile grow on his face. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He lied, looking over the waves, the sunlight sparkling in the deep greenish water, just like her eyes had sparkled the night before.

"You are an awful liar." Jess said with a grin. Hitting his shoulder friendly. "You met someone?" She asked, some times, having a woman as one of your best friends, could be a real pain. But actually, he wanted to talk about Stella, talk about the way she made him feel.

"Give me a name." She said with a smile, urging him to tell about this mystery woman.

"Stella... Stella Bonasera." He said with a dreaming look on his face, his thoughts constantly circling around the beautiful young woman. "She is interesting, both open and private at the same time. She has this way of making you feel confused – but in a good way."

"You're lost Mac." Jess said. "How come I haven't met her yet? You should bring her to dinner with us." She suggested curiously. Mac shook his head, he didn't want to drag her in to 1st class society, the snobbery, the etiquette, the complete masking of your personality.

"Why not? I would love to meet the woman that managed to get you out of your shell, after 2 days on this ship." She continued, he knew from bitter experience, that when she first got started, she was unstoppable.

"I don't think your mom would like her." He tried. Jess sighed. "She hates everyone."

"She travels on 3rd class." He reasoned, making her smile fade for just a second, before it grew even bigger. "Really? Yea, my mom would hate her."

"It's not just that. I don't want her to think that I'm trying to change her." He continued, the image of Stella, still dancing before him. He actually wanted to show her a bit of his life, he wanted to tell her that he couldn't stop thinking about her.

"Just tell her that you wont get peace from your friends before you introduce her? Please?" She asked, Mac nodded. "I'll ask her."


End file.
